The present invention relates to a bracket attaching structure of an attaching bracket for forming a closed section by a roof side inner panel and a side body outer panel of a vehicle and mounting an assistant grip to an inner compartment side of a roof inner panel.
FIG. 11 is a sectional view of a roof side rail portion 51 of a vehicle in a conventional art. As disclosed in JP-A-10-181490 (Japanese Patent Application Publication Number: Hei10-181490) and FIG. 11, in a vehicle structure of a conventional art, the roof side rail portion 51 forms a closed section 57 by bonding two upper and lower end portions of a roof side inner panel 52 and a side body outer panel 53. An attaching bracket 54 having substantially a hat-like sectional shape is fixed to an inner compartment side of the roof side inner panel 52 by welding. The attaching bracket 54 is for attaching an assistant grip, not illustrated, (refer to an assistant grip 3 of FIG. 2), an attaching hole 54b for attaching the assistant grip is formed at a top portion 54a of the attaching bracket 54. An interior panel 55 for a ceiling is arranged from a ceiling portion of the vehicle over to the roof side rail portion 51 to cover the attaching bracket 54 and a side end portion of the interior panel 55 is extended up to a lower side bonding portion 58 of the roof side inner panel 52 and the side body outer panel 53.
When a passenger grasps the assistant grip, large load is applied to the attaching bracket. Therefore, it is necessary to increase strength of attaching the attaching bracket 54 and the shape of the attaching bracket 54 becomes complicated and enlarged. Therefore, a large portion of an interval between the roof side inner panel 52 and the interior panel 55 is occupied by the attaching bracket 54. Meanwhile, a curtain air bag 56 tends to be mounted to the roof side rail portion 51 for ensuring safety.
As described above, the space between the roof side inner panel 52 and the interior panel 55 is occupied by the attaching bracket 54 and therefore, there is no room for arranging the curtain air bag 56. Therefore, as shown by FIG. 12, respectives of the roof side inner panel 52 and the side body outer panel 53 are provided with extended portions L to thereby arrange the curtain air bag 56 at the interval between the roof side inner panel 52 and the interior panel 55.
However, when the extended portions L of the roof side inner panel 52 and the side body outer panel 53 are extended to an upper side of a vehicle body, a vehicle height is increased and when the extended portions L are extended to a lower side of the vehicle body, a window frame forming area is reduced and a fine view is not commanded, further, ride-in and ride-out performance is deteriorated, both of which are not preferable. Further, when a vehicle body mounted with a curtain air bag and a vehicle body which is not mounted with the curtain air bag are designed separately, production cost of the vehicle body is increased.